Dielectric spacers for metal interconnects and method to form the same

Abstract

Dielectric spacers for a plurality of metal interconnects and a method to form such dielectric spacers are described. In one embodiment, the dielectric spacers are adjacent to neighboring metal interconnects having flared profiles and are discontiguous from one another. In another embodiment, the dielectric spacers provide a region upon which un-landed vias may effectively land.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1) Field of the Invention[0002]The invention is in the field of Integrated Circuits.[0003]2) Description of Related Art[0004]Metal interconnects are utilized in the fabrication of integrated circuits as a means of connecting various electronic and / or semiconductor devices into a global circuitry. Two key factors considered when fabricating such metal interconnects are the resistance (R) of each metal interconnect and the coupling capacitance (C), i.e. cross-talk, generated between the metal interconnects. Both of these factors hamper the efficiency of metal interconnects. Thus, it has been desirable to reduce both the resistance and the capacitance in metal interconnects in order to mitigate the so called “RC-delay.”[0005]For the past decade, the performance of integrated circuits, such as those found on microprocessors, has been greatly enhanced by the incorporation of copper interconnects into the “back-end” of line processing sequence. The presenc...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Both of these factors hamper the efficiency of metal interconnects.

However, the incorporation of such films has proven to be challenging.

Although this technique has been effective for reducing the coupling capacitance, a result of air having a K-value of only 1, the structural integrity of a plurality of metal interconnects may be compromised in the absence of supporting dielectric layers.

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